An Ecosystem Approach

Project Background

Nellie’s Cove was one of the first places locals in Port Orford began to notice the changes in kelp forests. The cove is a place that most hold dear to their hearts, a place where people would paddle their sea kayaks and pull up on a bull kelp bed so thick and healthy it kept their boat in place to fish for that evening's dinner. The cove is protected due to its south facing beaches and towering rocky cliffs and once supported a habitat seemingly in balance to produce plenty of fish, attract whales, and give harbor seals an obstacle course to race through as they forage for dinner.

It wasn’t until 2017 that the urchin divers, kayakers and fishermen noticed that this cove was starting to turn from a healthy kelp forest into what’s now known as an urchin barren. Urchin divers were also noticing similar changes at prime urchin fishing grounds at Orford Reef. An urchin barren is an underwater desert full of purple urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) that have eaten their way through the kelp forest, sparking a whole lot of questions and research and a response plan to not only protect the forests that remain but also rehabilitate the declining kelp forests off the Oregon coast.

Historically, kelp forests lined large sections of Oregon’s rocky coastlines, particularly in the southern third of the state, from Cape Arago to Brookings. These highly productive ecosystems provide habitat for iconic species such as gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus), abalone (Haliotis spp.), and multiple species of groundfish. Kelp forests deliver a range of ecosystem services to coastal communities as well by supporting diverse fisheries, buffering coastlines from storms, creating recreational and cultural opportunities, and transforming large amounts of carbon into organic material.

From 2010 to 2022, Oregon’s kelp canopy cover, largely bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), declined by nearly 900 acres, nearly 70% of the total area, and many areas are now dominated by urchin barrens. Recent increases in purple sea urchin populations of up to 1000-fold in some places are driven by a combination of a recruitment boom sometime in the mid-2010s and the near total loss of sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), one of the few extant sea urchin predators in Oregon. These kelp losses have already had negative impacts on communities along Oregon’s coast, including changes to gray whale foraging patterns, the closure of the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) fishery, and shifts in the fishing grounds of red sea urchin divers.

Implementation

The Oregon Kelp Alliance (ORKA) formed in 2019 in response to the concerns of red sea urchin divers, tourism operators, scientists, and fishermen about the changes to the kelp forest ecosystem. At first, these changes were observed largely on Oregon’s south coast but have subsequently been observed along the entire coast.

In response to the loss of many kelp forests in Oregon and along the West Coast of the US, ORKA initiated a suite of kelp forest surveys in 2023 to obtain a snapshot of the status of Oregon’s kelp forests with support from the NOAA National Center for Coastal and Ocean Science. In October 2024, ORKA released the Oregon Kelp Forest Status Report.

Concerted efforts to understand the changes that were occurring in Nellie’s Cove began in 2020 when ORKA partnered with Oregon Reef Check to begin survey work with volunteer divers. The cove, with its protected nature and dividing wall built by the Coast Guard in 1934, offers an ideal location to understand the changes occurring and study methods of reversing the change. Researchers left conditions on the east side of the cove untouched as a control for comparison, while the west side is used as a testing ground for methods to remove urchins and restore kelp.

In 2021, with funding from Pew Charitable Trusts, volunteer divers culled approximately 47,000 urchins in 6 days using only handheld hammers. Over the next 3 years, ORKA would coordinate efforts with commercial urchin divers collecting urchins and volunteer Reef Check divers culling urchins. Since then, at least 100,000 urchins have been removed from Nellie’s Cove.

Next Steps

ORKA will follow the 2024 Status Report with the Oregon Kelp Forest Stewardship Action Plan. This plan will outline ORKA’s future plans to maintain currently healthy kelp forest populations and to restore lost kelp forest habitats. The effort will take an ecosystem approach utilizing three techniques: 1) targeted urchin removal efforts, 2) bull kelp enhancement methods, and 3) sunflower sea star recovery. Solutions ORKA is exploring for urchin removal are working with volunteers through Reef Check Oregon and commercial divers as well as raising urchins in land-based tanks to grow them to marketable size and quality for food (urchin ranching). Bull kelp enhancement will involve out-planting of adult kelp grown in tumble cultures on land or as part of ORKA’s Restorative Kelp Mariculture Project with the intent to increase kelp spore density in restoration areas. Sunflower sea star recovery efforts will work with scientists and aquarists to locate and ultimately translocate healthy stars to restoration areas to help control urchin populations.

ORKA will launch the Oregon Kelp Forest Protection and Restoration Initiative in 2025. This two-year project will employ the three techniques from the Stewardship Action Plan (noted above) to support the persistence and recovery of healthy kelp forests at 6 sites along the Oregon coast.

ORKA has also been awarded funding through the Builders Initiative for the research and development of the Oregon Restorative Kelp Mariculture Project. Mariculture describes open ocean aquaculture, sometimes referred to as kelp farming. This project is a partnership between local fishermen and marine scientists to pilot the responsible cultivation of bull kelp in the nearshore waters around Port Orford as a potentially commercially viable fisheries diversification opportunity. This project will develop best practices for kelp cultivation, harvest, processing, marketing, and distribution of locally developed products derived from kelp including livestock feed, soil amendments, compost, food products, as well as kelp spore to be used for restoration activities.

Fishermen will partner with marine scientists to gather environmental data to inform best practices in constructing the bull kelp moorings, deploying and retrieving them, seasonal timing, and materials, especially the use of non-plastic alternatives. Local fishermen and other community members will be paid through the project, developing the necessary skills for this specialized work. ORKA will share best practices with key partners, including local fishermen and maritime workers, and the public.